There is a huge variety of diverse chemical substances that should be managed in the fields of clinical examination, environment, sanitation, disaster prevention, and the like. Examples thereof include hormone molecules; endocrine disruptors; soil pollutants in factory sites; asbestos generated from construction materials; and chemical substances that cause unpleasant odor or taste in foods, containers, or their production apparatuses. A significant number of such chemical substances are low molecular weight substances; they are usually included only in trace amounts in the materials to be analyzed. Detecting such trace amounts of chemical substances, rapidly with high sensitivity, is an extremely important operation for securing safety or the like in various fields.
For example, in the field of life-sciences, there has been a movement to acquire information that sensitively indicates the present, real-time status in the body by a metabolome analysis and then realize a tailor-made prophylaxis. In order to realize such a technique, it is required to analyze metabolites of relatively low molecular weights, such as amino acids and organic acids, and to apply the results to a diagnosis. Therefore, mass analysis is considered an important technology. Regarding a mass analysis apparatus, for example, it is known that mass spectrum is obtained by injecting a biological sample such as blood, serum, urine, or saliva into a vacuum under high voltage, and separating and detecting ionized components.
In the actual field of these analyses, there is a demand for an analysis technique that can detect a target chemical substance in situ with high sensitivity. Furthermore, in the actual field of analysis, there is also a demand for size reduction of the analysis apparatuses. In order to cope with these demands, when a particular chemical substance is selectively detected as an object of detection (hereinafter, also described as a “target molecule”), it is important to efficiently eliminate substances that disrupt detection (hereinafter, also described as “measurement inhibiting substances”).
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a reaction chip having, upstream from a reaction chamber, a pre-column unit that accommodates a carrier, which is capable of eliminating measurement inhibiting substances in a specimen. A specimen or a reagent is transported to this reaction chamber or pre-column unit using a centrifugal force caused by rotation.